Friday night delivered two Grand Rapids concerts that couldn’t have been more different, but were every bit as satisfying for their respective throngs of fans. (Review, photo gallery)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Homecoming: Leigh Kakaty and Pop Evil fired up The Intersection’s “Rock the Lot” on Friday. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
If my unusual Friday night musical voyage was a country song, it might go something like, “Honey, Your Twangy Country Heart and Active Rock Soul Are Giving Me Whiplash.”
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Story-Telling Country Charm: Vince Gill at Meijer Gardens. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
Circumstances sometimes being what they are, I found myself soaking up Vince Gill’s vintage country concert at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park early in the evening and smack dab in the middle of Pop Evil’s fist-pumping rock ’n’ roll show outside the Intersection later the same night.
And I didn’t even need a pickup truck or a tattoo to take in these concerts that couldn’t have been more different.
Both shows boasted big crowds – a sold-out amphitheater of 1,900 mostly baby boomers for the Grammy Award-winning Gill’s Meijer Gardens debut and about 1,500 mostly raucous black T-shirted fans in the parking lot next to The Intersection for Pop Evil’s homecoming show and CD-release party for the West Michigan band’s new “UP” album.
Gill was playing Meijer Gardens for the first time and made it feel like he’d done it a million times before, completely at ease on stage, telling tales and cracking jokes for an approving but relatively tame audience on a spectacular evening at the amphitheater. It was a sit-and-listen sort of country crowd, not a get-up-and-boogie country crowd.
Pop Evil was playing The Intersection for the millionth time and loving every minute of its hometown-hero status and its hard-partying fans, from the opening blast of “Last Man Standing.” OK, it wasn’t the millionth time, but Pop Evil’s relationship with The Intersection goes back so far that lead singer Leigh Kakaty even talked fondly from the stage about playing the old nightclub when it was located in Eastown more than a decade ago.
This was a stand-and-roar-and-take-selfies-and-turn-up-the-volume sort of crowd, relishing its opportunity to embrace the hard-rock success of Pop Evil in an outdoor setting as part of The Intersection’s “Rock the Lot” series.
Rock the Lot Crowd: About 1,500 people packed the parking lot next to The Intersection. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Suffice to say, both performances catered perfectly to the audiences that packed each venue
“This is really, really cool,” Kakaty gushed at one point as part of a loud, well-orchestrated, light-and-stage-fog-festooned set that included older favorites such as “Monster You Made” and “Goodbye My Friend” as well as new rockers “Dead in the Water,” “Footsteps” and the infectious “Take It All.”
Indeed, fans such as one who identified herself only as Mermaid would heartily agree, insisting she’d been listening and watching and dancing to Pop Evil – which first really made a name for itself years ago by winning Aris Hampers’ Rock Search – since she was a child.
“It’s heart. They’re true,” she insisted, pounding her chest.
A LONG ROAD FOR TWO SUCCESSFUL ACTS: POP EVIL AND VINCE GILL
It’s hard to argue with that either, considering the long road and hard work that Pop Evil has logged over the years to get to the point where it has cultivated a global following and racked up No. 1 singles at rock radio.
Kakaty seemed to appreciate the local love, flashing peace signs at the crowd, smiling broadly at times and stalking the stage like an uncaged animal while fans sang along to what have now become classic Pop Evil tunes.
Sun-Splashed Amphitheater: Gill’s concert drew a capacity crowd. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
There were plenty of sing-alongs at Meijer Gardens, too, led by the still-impressive, smooth-and-versatile vocals of Gill, who even joked that he’s “been singing like a woman for a long time. I live in a real nice house because I sing like a woman.”
And while he didn’t show it off much, Gill — who first made a name for himself in the 1970s with Pure Prairie League — can also play a mean guitar, though he left most of the instrumental magic to band members such as pedal-steel guitar master Paul Franklin, who drenched Gill’s music – and his renditions of songs by heroes Merle Haggard and Buck Owens – in old-fashioned country twang, especially standards such as “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” and “Together Again.”
More than anything, the down-to-earth Gill – clad in a simple black T-shirt – just seemed to enjoy kibitzing with fans and explaining the stories behind songs such as “The Old Lucky Diamond Motel,” “Oklahoma Dust” and “Pocket Full of Gold,” which sparked amusing commentaries on country music and “cheatin’ songs.”
“That’s what’s made country great,” he quipped, after saying that “all this Ashley Madison stuff has made me nervous. Anybody here tonight with someone they shouldn’t be?”
I didn’t see anyone raise their hand, but everyone got a good chuckle out of it as part of an evening full of laughs and vintage country songs in what Gill described as a “beautiful place to play.”
Two concerts separated by seven miles and about 50 decibels … and both leaving their respective audiences a bit happier than when they arrived.
LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY:
Vince Gill at Meijer Gardens, photos by Eric Stoike
Pop Evil at The Intersection, photos by Anthony Norkus
